


No Grave Can Hold My Body Down

by bells_n_roses



Series: Aphrodite's Mark [3]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/F, Slow burn if I have the patience, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27857385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bells_n_roses/pseuds/bells_n_roses
Summary: After finding out they're soulmates, Bella and Rosalie struggle to figure out their separate issues.
Relationships: Rosalie Hale/Bella Swan
Series: Aphrodite's Mark [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781848
Comments: 28
Kudos: 226





	1. Chapter 1

It was a cold, wet day, and Bella's coat was already soaked through by the time she got to the Cullen house. The door swung open as she lifted her hand to knock and she smiled tentatively as Alice beckoned her in.

"Hey," said Bella.

"Hey."

Esme waved from the kitchen, and Bella waved back. She'd grown to like Esme a lot, truth be told, and Carlisle too--they were solid; dependable. And they were always happy to see her.

Alice grabbed Bella's hand and pulled her upstairs, into her bedroom. The door clicked shut behind them, signaling to the rest of the house that--even if they could hear them--the conversation was private. Bella sat down on the bed, watching Alice as she leaned against the vanity, posture stiff. 

"You texted me--" Bella began.

"Yeah. I've got questions." Alice glanced down at her nails and out, along her arm, until her gaze rested somewhere behind Bella. "So," she said, with forced nonchalance, "you and Angela."

"What?" 

"You're dating."

Bella laughed, big and toothy, with the grace of a choking toddler. "No?" she said, when she realized she was expected to answer the statement.

"Don't lie to us, Bella."

"Us?" Bella turned around to see Rosalie at the far end of the bed, a book in her hand and boredom clear on her face. Bella jumped, her heart beating erratically. "Jeez, how do you do that?" she said.

"It's not my fault you're unobservant."

"Have you been there the whole time?"

Rosalie cast a withering gaze her way. "Alice said there'd be human sacrifices to snack on."

"Right, whatever." Bella rolled her eyes before turning back to Alice. "As I was saying, Angela and I aren't dating."

Out of the corner of her eye, Bella could see Rosalie raise her eyebrow, though her pose was still forcibly nonchalant. "Edward said you kissed her."

This was an accusation as much as it was a question. 

"Edward's an idiot," Bella said, "I swear I'm gonna kill him--"

"So you didn't kiss her?" Alice chimed in.

"No, I definitely did, I just mean it's none of his business--or yours, actually." Bella stood up, her hands on her hips. "What do you want?"

"Jeez, Bells, it's not like I'm your best friend or anything." Alice bit back, half as a joke, though bitterness still clouded her tone.

"What I decide to do with my lips is none of your business."

"Right."

"It's completely up to me."

Alice hummed. 

"And I don't need you checking up on me or snooping through Edward."

Alice held her hands up in front of her. "To be fair, none of us asked him to snoop, he's just like that."

"Not an excuse."

"Gotcha." Alice finger gunned at her and Bella scowled.

She spun around, eyebrows sewn together, to point at Rosalie. "And it's none of _your _business, either." She jabbed her finger into Rosalie's chest. "I don't see why you care."__

__"I don't," Rosalie said._ _

__"Good."_ _

__"Good."_ _

__There was a moment of silence as Bella, still scowling, let her finger hover for a second over the centre of Rosalie's chest, and stared into the half-black pit of her eyes. No one moved, not even Alice, as Bella took in the tight line of Rosalie's lips and the ferocity of her gaze. There was a hunger there, an anger, and, for a moment, she couldn't look away. Bella's chest heaved as she struggled between her own temper, her fear, and something else._ _

__She lowered her finger._ _

__"Maybe I should go," Bella said._ _

__Alice stepped forwards to stop her. "Wait, no, I still want to talk to you about--"_ _

__Bella hitched her bag back over her shoulder and flung open the door. She ran down the stairs, hand against the rail, and waved a quick goodbye to Emmet, who was in the living room._ _

__"Oh, are you going, Bella?" said Esme. She'd appeared by the door, concerned etched onto her face._ _

__"Thanks for pretending not to hear us, Esme." Bella smiled at her. "But yeah, I think it's time for me to leave."_ _

__"Will you stay for lunch? I made Italiano."_ _

__Bella laughed quietly. "Isn't that what you made the first time I came round? Seems a bit cursed." She sniffed the air. "But it smells delicious."_ _

__Esme smiled, and, after a moment, Bella relented._ _

__*_ _

__Later that day, when she'd eaten so much of Esme's delicious cooking that Bella genuinely thought she'd burst, Alice dragged her back upstairs and apologised. It was awkward, sure, and Rosalie wasn't there, but Bella prided herself on functional relationships. She knew the whole soulmate thing was hard--not just for her, but for all of them._ _

__*_ _

__In the winter, when the days were long and dark, there was nothing Bella liked more than to curl up by the radiator with a cup of tea and a book. Unfortunately, there was still school to think about, and people, and, worst of all, her friends._ _

__"Do you think koalas know they're cute?" Eric asked, just as Bella was reaching her car._ _

__"What?"_ _

__"Koalas. Do you think they look in the mirror and go aww?"_ _

__Jess snorted from beside them. "I doubt it. I don't think they see a lot of mirrors."_ _

__"Fair."_ _

__It was Wednesday, surely the worst day of the week, and Bella was struggling to pay attention to the ever changing conversation. Angela walked behind her, laughing at Eric's increasingly random questions and waiting for Bella to be ready to leave. They had plans to study for the English exam together, so Bella unlocked her truck and held the door open for Angela._ _

__"Thanks."_ _

__"Don't mention it."_ _

__They said goodbye to the others and Bella slid into the driver's seat. She revved the engine and they lurched forwards, the truck thundering across the parking lot as Bella did her best to steer it. From across the lot, Bella caught the eye of Rosalie, her face impressively blank. _Dick. _____

____Angela turned towards Bella and caught the scowl that flickered across her face, tugging at the bottom of her lip, before it disappeared. She reached her hand across the divide of the truck and placed it gently on Bella's, her eyes full of her characteristic softness._ _ _ _


	2. She Put Her Love Down Soft And Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jess has a plan, Rose has an emotion. Alice makes a mistake.

“I’ve got a plan,” said Jess. They were packing up after English, just about to go to PE, and Bella didn’t like the sound of that one bit.

“Uh oh,” she said.

Angela nodded. “I second that.”

“Ladies! Have a little faith!” Jess placed a hand against her chest, miming offense. “This is a plan to do with the wonderful Rosalie Hale.”

Bella shoved her books into her bag. “That just makes it worse, Jess.” 

“Again, seconded.”

The room was rapidly thinning--Edward had already left, thankfully, so there was at least a fifty percent chance he couldn’t hear them. Bella’s phone buzzed in her pocket and she checked it quickly. It was Leah, sending her a cute cat meme.

“Hey, did you guys like Leah when you met her?” she asked.

“Yeah, of course,” said Angela. 

Bella smiled. “Great. Do you wanna have another sleepover?”  
Jess groaned. “Can I _please _tell you about my genius plan?”__

__“I vote no.”_ _

__“You haven’t even heard it!”_ _

__Bella laughed. She was fond of her friends, even if they drove her round the bend sometimes.“If we do,” she said, “then can we change the conversation after?”_ _

__“Yep.”_ _

__

__“Then go for it.”_ _

__

__***_ _

__

__Rosalie could have been a cheerleader, if she wanted--to be fair, so could her entire family, but Rose was just perfect for the role. So perfect that Lauren Mallory--resident cheer captain--had actually approached her several times. She seemed to think, poor thing, that she stood a chance of friendship with the most beautiful girl in Forks._ _

__Of course, if Lauren had been Bella’s friend--actually, properly Bella’s friend, not the faker Edward had once mentioned she was--then maybe she might have stood a chance. Rose had, to her credit, made an effort to be nice to Bella’s friends. They didn’t interact with her much, but still. She tried._ _

__Not because she liked them, of course, or because she liked Bella--it was a matter of convenience, now that the Cullens were expected to interact with the rest of the school. And a kindness, really, to her siblings; they liked the humans’ company._ _

__But yes, in another life Rosalie would have been a cheerleader. She could imagine herself like that, blonde hair tied up as she performed in front of the bleachers, dressed in the yellow and blue of the Spartans. White turtleneck, neatly pleated skirt--picture perfect, as her mother used to say. It was a pity, really._ _

__She didn’t particularly want attention, or even to perform. But there was something so very human about experiences like that: being on the cheer squad, going to prom, first kisses…_ _

__An all American teenage-hood. Something she’d never had, even when she was alive._ _

__Rose turned the corner between AP history and gym. The last period of the day, and the thing that convinced her that, actually, being a vampire wasn’t so bad--gym made humans stink._ _

__She strode through the crowded hallway, movements fluid and strong as water. Alice was talking to her--something about Jasper’s prom outfit--and Emmett walked behind them. He had a bag of eggs, for some reason._ _

__“Hey, Rosalie--” Edward jogged to catch up with him, miming having to catch his breath. His class was on the other side of the building, so there needed to be a show. “Are you okay?”_ _

__Rosalie raised an eyebrow. “Yes.”_ _

__“You’ve dented the buckle on your bag.”_ _

__Rosalie glanced over to her bag’s shoulder strap, which she’d been clutching. “Oh.”_ _

__“Is this about…?” Edward motioned with his head to the end of the corridor, where a gaggle of teenagers waited to get into the locker rooms--Bella’s friends, she realised with a sneer._ _

__“Of course not.”_ _

__“It’s okay to feel jealous.”_ _

__“I don’t.”_ _

__

__“But--”_ _

__“Will you just drop it, Edward?” Rosalie let her hand fall from her shoulder, and made a mental note to replace the warped buckle._ _

__Her brother, for all his faults, knew when he pushed it too far. He fell into place beside them, lip apparently buttoned. Alice, for once, was also silent, though her face showed she was listening intently._ _

__As they approached the group of students around the locker room door, Rosalie sniffed the air. Bella was there, and that girl--Angela, her name was--and the rest of their cohort. Only the Newton boy wasn’t with them._ _

__It was hard to see much over the throng of students in the hallway, but Rosalie couldn’t help but pause when she saw that Bella’s arm was around Angela’s shoulders. She was lent against the locker, arm slung over her friend as she chatted to Eric, with the same careless smile she got when Alice let her read aloud from Wuthering Heights._ _

__But she wasn’t with Alice. And she wasn’t talking about Wuthering Heights._ _

__“So, there I was,” said Eric, “ketchup on my--”_ _

__Bella laughed. “I swear, if you finish that sentence, Eric…”_ _

__“What?”_ _

__“I make no promises for the weird and unusual punishments I’ll use.”_ _

__Angela turned to look at Bella, hand idly finding its way to Bella’s fingers. “Saucy,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows up and down._ _

__“Not like that, Ange.” Bella slapped her hand, though she didn’t move her own arm._ _

__Rosalie stilled. Whatever Bella had said before, that could not be platonic. Surely, even in the modern day, so much more permissive than the time Rosalie had been born into, it wasn’t normal to stand like that with a friend?_ _

__“I don’t know,” Edward whispered, “she’s like that with Alice, sometimes.”_ _

__“She’s never kissed me, though,” said Alice._ _

__Rosalie turned pointedly away from the teenagers, fixing her glare on Edward. “Just get out of my head. It’s none of my business what she ‘does with her lips’.”_ _

__Technically, that wasn’t true. But goodness, did Rosalie wish it was--she would have given anything to have no horses in that particular race._ _

__***_ _

__The locker room was small and cramped, typical of a small town school with little funding. Red lockers lined the walls, and the singular window at the end of the room didn’t very little to dispel the steam from the showers. Always, there was the smell of sweat and deodorant, the feel of judgement and half-hidden whispers. Rosalie didn’t mind--how could she? She knew the reason the other girls watched her, why their eyes traced her steps from her locker to the bench. She didn’t pause when it came to undressing--there was nothing to be ashamed about--and she paid no mind to the gaze of the others when she lowered the zip of her skirt and let it fall to the floor. Usually, she couldn’t care less what they thought, and on the good days she relished their attention. That day, however, it was her eyes that wandered._ _

__Bella sat on the bench opposite her, between Angela and Jessica, and she didn’t stop to look at Rose once. Instead, she cautiously tugged her shirt over her head, shoulders slightly hunched with embarrassment, and laughed at the Stanley girl’s jokes. Every few moments she would turn to Angela, gaze soft, and mutter some little nothing. Rosalie heard it all--she blamed vampiric hearing for that one--and even though there was nothing unusual about the conversation, there was plenty in the tone._ _

__The actual gym lesson was no better. Rosalie lapped the humans, but she took no joy in passing them when she saw how Angela jogged backwards so she could face Bella as they talked. Why did she care? It wasn’t any of her business. There was no reason for Rose to scowl as she ran around them._ _

__“You’re in my way,” she told Angela._ _

__“Sorry we can’t all be Usain Bolt,” Bella shot back._ _

__Rose sped up. “Whatever.”_ _

__***_ _

__Later, in the showers, Rose caught a glimpse of Bella’s soulmark. She hadn’t meant to look--it was an accident--but when the girl dropped her body wash her eyes automatically went to find the source of the noise. As Bella lent over, her back arching, Rosalie saw for the second time the words that marked her out from the rest of the humans._ _

__It was her own antiquated cursive, written in ink the same shade as the pen she used when signing her name. It didn’t hurt to see it there like it had the first time--but then again, perhaps the first time was always like that. The way the others had described it, finding your soulmate was half pleasure, half abject shock. And then, for Rosalie, there was the shame of it all._ _

__Bella Swan--really? That was her soulmate?_ _

__And yet, when Bella turned away, slender arm shifting out of view, Rose wished to see it again._ _

__***_ _

__“I invited Bella to baseball next week,” Alice said on the way home._ _

__Rosalie frowned. There wasn’t any point to a human hanging around while they played--it wasn’t like she could join in, or even see most of what was going on. Not to mention, with their instincts on high alert from the competition, the danger for her life was greater than usual…_ _

__Rosalie’s knuckles clenched around the steering wheel. “Does she have to?” she said.  
“It’ll be fun!”_ _

__“I doubt it.”_ _

__Edward was sitting in the passenger seat with his head pressed against the window. “I think it might be nice,” he said._ _

__

__“I think you might be wrong.”_ _

__Baseball was fun, sure, but Rosalie had had enough of Bella Swan for one day. Enough of her friends, of her soulmark, of her strangely intense eyes. It was all too much, and, if Rose had been human, she would’ve gone straight to bed._ _

__She decided, then, that something had to be done. She had to talk to Bella--to make this mess go away, since it clearly wasn’t going to go away by itself. Her family were too involved, and she knew that if she didn’t do something soon then she risked her relationship with them. There was Bella, too. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, Rosalie was strangely fascinated by the girl._ _

__“When’s the next thunderstorm?” she asked._ _

__Alice smiled. “This weekend.”_ _

__“That’ll give me time to prepare, at least.” Rosalie sighed, but it was hard to tell whether from frustration or just plain exhaustion. “I’ll need it.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes-y, that was a bit of a hiatus!
> 
> I'm still on hiatus, more or less, but I thought I'd write a bit since my contribution to the Rosella tag has been... lacking since Christmas. In other news, I finished the first draft of my EPQ (the last draft is due at the end of the month) got accepted into all my unis (thank goodness), a fic I've been following since I was 13 updated for the first time 6 years, and I started learning German. If anyone has some good german fic recs I'd love to hear them.
> 
> Anyway, the plot is about to get more angst-y (is that possible??) as Rosalie realises that, oh no! she has The Gay!  
> But only under extenuating circumstances, of course. RIP Bella.
> 
> I hope you all liked this chapter, and that it wasn't disappointing, since the progress on their relationship is slow. Does it count as a slow burn yet? I don't know, but it's got a solid 10k words left to go.
> 
> Hope you have a nice day, and enjoy :)

**Author's Note:**

> Hellooooo!  
> Been a while, I'll admit, but I have a rough plan now for where I want this to go, so hopefully the next chapter will be out in... a few weeks? Hopefully.
> 
> If anyone wants to help out with my EPQ (basically a long essay), then could you please take this quiz on why you read fanfiction? It's only one question long and it would be a really big help since I need numerical evidence for my essay. No worries if not, but I'd be very grateful if you did :)  
> https://uquiz.com/WEvo0X


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